But can I just say how hard it was to give it up for a week?? I missed it so much in so many ways and all I can say is I'm glad to be back :) And that my google reader is literally exploding!
Anyway, I wanted to share some highlights of the past week with you guys!
We finally are getting more fall-ish weather here - it's been pretty chilly the past couple of days and even rained one day last week. Made me feel like I was back at home:)
I got my hands on a red cup<3
I had a Diddy Riese date with one of my floormates last night (yayyy for no school today!) - I got espresso chip and peanut butter cup ice creams and was in heaven.
I treated myself to Jamba Juice after my first real IFT barbell class (similar to the IFT class I took on Monday, except this one used barbells) on Thursday. The workout was so tough!! We did 4 rounds of burpees and Romanian deadlifts and I was so sore on Friday that walking hurt. I spent some quality time with my foam roller and then went on a shake-out run with a girlfriend on Saturday night that made my legs feel a lot better!
Someone on my floor randomly gave me a pomegranate and I spent like 20 minutes at the laundry room sink getting all the arils out but it was so worth it. You do what you gotta do, right?
I also discovered that there is a trolley (well, a bus disguised as a trolley) that goes from campus to Target, Ralph's, and Trader Joe's every Saturday. Needless to say I was stoked to not have to carry all my groceries all the way back up the hill! One of the things I bought was this dark chocolate coconut caramel bar - the perfect study fuel when it comes to quantum mechanics.
Getting cupcakes at 1 in the morning after having a paper-writing date on Saturday night with one of my girlies. We burnt popcorn and spent far too much time playing around on photo booth pretending like we had mustaches but it was so much fun. Not to mention I actually wrote 4 pages of my paper that night too!
Coffee and an amazing vegan chocolate chip walnut cookie while doing my readings and writing more of my paper.
Looking back on this post made me come face to face with a reality that I've been denying - I'm eating a LOT more sugar and junk than usual. And what you see isn't even all of it. Candy corn, scones, brownies, all of it - I've been indulging a little too much lately and the more I think about it the more I realize that it is affecting me negatively. I feel more weighed down, in general I have less energy, and I just haven't been feeling too good about myself.
I know part of the cause is that I am an emotional eater and that I've been pretty stressed about midterms lately. Part of it is that there are just SO many more sweets and goodies available to me than I'm used to having access to. I have a huge sweet tooth and it's tough to pass up the dessert case every single night, especially when people I'm eating with are eating multiple desserts. And I also think that not having access to blogs for the entire past week didn't help - because reading other blogs is so helpful and encouraging when you're trying to live a healthy lifestyle.
To be honest, when I was looking back through my photos for this post I almost didn't include some of them because there are so many treats that have been happening lately. But then I realized that not posting about it would mean not being real with you guys, and that's the last thing I want to do.
So I'm being honest. I'm being real. I'm saying that living a healthy life in college is HARD. Being thrown into an entirely new life, in a new place with new stresses, being without your family and your home and your comfort zone, all of it is so utterly overwhelming. And suddenly it makes perfect sense to me why people gain the freshman 15 so easily.
But I'm so glad that I'm realizing this now and not at the end of the year. Because I can do something about this, I can make a change. I don't exactly have a game plan yet, but I know that I need to do something differently. And that's a start.
So you tell me: what are your suggestions for cutting down on sugar and getting my energy back?
don't be so hard on yourself, I think we all react to stress in different ways so it is really what you can do to make yourself feel better. I hope you are hanging in there through midterms!
ReplyDeleteHopefully the stress of the semester will end and you will be able to adjust back to normal...or maybe just seeing your family for thanksgiving will help? I will admit, that ice cream sounds incredible!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Alex - don't be so hard on yourself! It happens to EVERYONE. Stressed is desserts spelled backwards ;) haha but you can just start your week off my choosing healthier choices and limiting yourself to one sweet per day or something like that. You're fine!! :)
ReplyDeleteIt happens to the best of us, sometimes there is no avoiding the fact that when you are stressed, sugar makes you feel better. This happens to me all the time, but don't sweat it girl, once those midterms are over, I'm sure your body will crave clean eats and sweaty workouts :) When I lived in the dorms freshmen year, I made a point NOT to keep sugar in my dorm room, that way I could enjoy it at a special treat when I was out with friends and not feel guilty.
ReplyDeleteI don't think you have to worry about the freshman 15 because you are working so HARD physically and mentally. It's important for us college kids to remember that our brain is burning so many calories and is burning up lots of glucose to help us power through those tough homework probs ;)
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